Press/228
Geneva,18 May 2001Moore
hails spirit of cooperation among ministers

Director-General
Mike Moore today praised efforts by ministers meeting in various
forums this week to narrow their differences and work toward ensuring
a successful outcome to the WTO Ministerial Conference in Doha, Qatar,
this November.

During the week, Mr. Moore attended the Third United Nations
Conference for Least Developed Countries in Brussels and the
ministerial level meeting of the Organization for Economic Cooperation
and Development in Paris. At both sessions, he stressed the importance
of launching a global trade round in Doha. Mr. Moore also hosted
meetings of ministers in both Brussels and Paris at which he told
ministers that time for preparation was running short and that
governments would have to become fully engaged in the process if
differences between the 140 WTO member governments were to be
narrowed.

“I
was very encouraged by my discussions with ministers over the past
week. In both Brussels and Paris, ministers indicated a firm
commitment to the multilateral trading system and a deep understanding
of the importance of making the Doha Ministerial Conference a success.
But we should not gloss over the important differences that remain.
Countries across the spectrum of development have issues that must
addressed. I think a growing number of ministers share my view that
the only way to ensure that member governments, particularly those
representing the poorest and most vulnerable nations, can have their
concerns dealt with in any real way is through a round of
negotiations,” Mr. Moore said.

Mr.
Moore told ministers at both conferences that he would issue them a
progress report on the Doha preparations at the end of July. He
stressed that this report would not represent a deadline but would be
a reality check. But he cautioned that little time remained after the
summer break to resolve outstanding differences and that without some
narrowing of positions in the coming months, it would be more
difficult to reach agreement in Doha.

After
returning to Geneva, Mr. Moore met today with Qatari Trade Minister
Youssef Hussain Kamal, who will chair the Ministerial Conference, and
together with members of his staff gave him a briefing on the Doha
preparatory process.

The
Director-General also met with U.S. Trade Representative Robert
Zoellick for an exchange of views on the Doha preparations.

“My
meetings with these two important ministers were productive and
insightful. Both of these men will play an extremely important role in
Doha and I'm grateful for their hard work and the commitment they have
shown to the multilateral process,” Mr. Moore said.